


When I'm Gone

by ShadowWolf



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: But only a little, F/F, utter fluff and a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-11 22:16:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowWolf/pseuds/ShadowWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Vastra and Jenny investigate 'the monster in the attic', have a long overdue conversation, and perhaps meet a new friend ... or something like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I'm Gone

**Author's Note:**

> What am I even doing? I don't write Doctor Who fic; this isn't my are of expertise! (though let's be honest, I don't HAVE an area of expertise). But Vastra and Jenny are really very addictive as a ship, and, who knows, maybe this fic could lead on to that Downton Who fic I've been meaning to write for ever (hint hint).
> 
> I'd say this takes place a good few years after The Crimson Horror (in the early 1920s if this DOES end up becoming a prologue to my Downton Abbey/Doctor Who AU. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

  The case was a relatively simple one, if somewhat different from their usual cases of murders and bank robberies and the occasional petty theft. Mr Musson’s ‘monster in the attic’ turned out to be a scared and lonely alien, escaped from a hijacked spaceship, so far away from his home and family. He – Solus, a fitting name considering his situation - had been hiding in Mr Musson’s attic, having crashed on the roof of the man’s home during a thunderstorm a couple of months previously. The ‘ghostly wails’ Mr Musson had reported had simply been his – Solus’s - cries for his family, who had presumably perished in the hijacking of their ship.

It was a tragic story really, and one Vastra had quite clearly sympathised with (in her own strange way). With a little effort, they had fixed up his escape pod into a makeshift spacecraft and sent him on his way, back to his home planet – wherever that may be.

The whole ordeal leaves Jenny wondering though, and her eyes don’t leave Vastra for the entire train ride home. She can’t help but make the connection; Solus had lost his family, it was more than likely that they were dead, and he had been so distraught – so heartbroken – that he had still been crying for them months later.

 _Is it different for Silurians?_ Jenny wonders. Because Vastra had once told her the story of how she came to owe The Doctor a debt, but she never speaks of her sisters now. Jenny doesn’t remember the last time she mentioned them. Does Vastra not _miss_ her family, the way Jenny sometimes does – on her sisters’ birthdays, or when she passes the butchers’ where her brother once worked, so long ago now? Surely she must. And yet, if she does, she never tells Jenny so, never gives an indication that she even thinks of her life before she became ‘The Great Detective’.

“You look thoughtful, Jenny.”

Jenny looks up with a start, but Vastra barely glances up from her papers. Jenny shakes her head, “It’s nothing, Ma’am.”

Vastra does look up at that, “There’s no need to be so formal, dear; we’re entirely alone.” She pauses, “Are you quite sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine.” Jenny replies hastily, “Sorry. It’s nothing. I just--” She trails off.

Vastra puts aside her papers – they aren’t all that important, she decides – and pats the bench next to her. Jenny moves at once from her own seat, and nestles herself comfortably against the familiar warmth of Vastra’s side.

“What’s troubling you, my love?” Vastra asks, and Jenny sighs, long and drawn out as she thinks on how to reply.

“It’s only … I was thinking, about how Solus lost his family, and now he’s alone.” (Vastra nods her understanding) “And you lost your family … and now you’re alone. But you never talk about them – your family, your sisters. You never even mention them. Is … is that how it’s going to be with me? When I’m … gone?” (Vastra tenses beside her, but Jenny carries on regardless) “I’m not stupid, Vastra, I know I won’t live forever, and you’re still going to be around long after I’m gone. Are you going to forget about me, like you forgot about them?”

“I didn’t forget about my sisters, Jenny.” Vastra snaps, and then, after a moment, sighs and hugs Jenny close – a silent apology “I will never forget my sisters. I loved them and I _shall_ love them for the rest of time, but I cannot allow thoughts of them to consume my every waking moment. It is different for my people, Jenny, you must understand that; if I allow myself to miss them too much I shall only return to that awful, _spiteful_ rage that filled me when I was first awoken. I cannot allow that.”

She rests her cheek lightly on Jenny’s head, her scales cool and comforting against Jenny’s skin.

“I have found other things to occupy my thoughts. I fell in love – first with my job, and then with you. And, like my sisters, I shall always love you. Darling Jenny.”

Jenny smiles, planting her head firmly against Vastra’s shoulder, but can’t help the twinge of sadness that the conversation brings.

“I shan’t replace you either.” Vastra says swiftly, somehow seeming to instinctively know exactly where Jenny’s thoughts are heading, “There is no one, in the whole of time and space, who could replace you, Jenny Flint. And when you _are_ … gone,” (It’s a painful word to get out) “Then I shall carry on our work in your memory, and you will always be with me.”

Jenny really does smile at that, a genuine – if slightly melancholy – smile that she hides in the fabric of Vastra’s dress, “Well,” She says, “You needn’t worry about that yet because I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon.”

“Hmm,” Vastra murmurs with a matching smile, “Good.”

She leans down to leave a soft kiss on Jenny’s forehead, followed by a brief peck of her lips. But of course Jenny is having none of that nonsense. She surges up, planting her lips firmly on Vastra’s, to give her wife a proper kiss, one hand grasping the back of Vastra’s neck as one of Vastra’s own hands cards through Jenny’s hair …

There’s a sharp rap on the carriage door, which promptly flies open. Jenny scrambles back, away from Vastra, whose only reaction is to look vaguely irritated at having been interrupted.

“Don’t stop on my account.” A man stands in the doorway, tall and dark and not altogether bad-looking, with a – frankly, rather _amused –_ smile on his handsome face, “I’m looking for Madame Vastra, The Great Detective.”

Vastra regards him with nothing but irritation, which only worsens when he seems completely untroubled by her appearance (where’s the fun if he isn’t even shocked!?), “And who might you be?”

The man smirks a pleased smirk (and Vastra dislikes him already), “Captain Jack Harkness,” He says, with a cheeky wink, “Pleased to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me where Strax is, I really don't know. He probably stayed at home to keep an eye on his arch-enemy (the MOON).


End file.
